Bulls gamble on Worm

Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, October 3, 1995

CHICAGO - Bulls general manager Jerry Krause and head coach Phil Jackson met with Dennis Rodman for several hours over the weekend. When those meetings were done, Rodman met individually with the two.

It was all part of the process of deciding whether Rodman could fit in with the Bulls and help them to a fourth NBA title. After Monday's trade with San Antonio for the oft-troubled power forward, in exchange for backup center Will Perdue, the Bulls' challenge now is to make it work.

"There are no assurances with anything," Jackson said.

"We're just talking about trying to take some good chances with the basketball club to put them in a championship state."

Rodman gives the Bulls the defensive-oriented, rebounding power forward they were missing last season after Horace Grant jumped to Orlando as a free agent.

Along with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, Rodman makes the Bulls one of the best defensive teams in the league.

Jackson thinks Rodman, who has an 8.2 career scoring average to go along with his 12.5 rebounding average, could also add some offense.

But perhaps more importantly, they needed and got assurances that Rodman had put all his past off-the-court problems and on-the-court antics behind him. They needed assurances that Rodman, 34, could peacefully coexist with Jordan and Pippen.

"This is a decision that is important to the franchise," Jackson said. "We all felt like we had to weigh it out and we had to really think about it, seriously, because this is not a snap judgment we had to make."

That's because "Worm" comes with well-publicized excess baggage.

For instance, Rodman just last week criticized David Robinson, last season's MVP who is regarded as perhaps the classiest player in the NBA.

"If you poll around the league and ask, "Is David Robinson a good citizen?' Yes. "Is David Robinson a good basketball player?' Yes. "Can he win the big one?' No."

That's why Spurs GM Gregg Popovich said it was

"difficult" to find a team willing to make a trade.

Around the league&lt;

* Clippers: First-round draft pick Brent Barry has signed a three-year contract with Los Angeles. Barry is a 6-foot-6 guard who averaged 21 points, 3.9 assists and 2.7 steals per game for Oregon State in 1994-95.

* Magic: The on-again, off-again retirement of journeyman center Tree Rollins is on again. Rollins, 40, who came out of retirement to serve as a player-coach for Orlando two seasons ago, will hang up his jersey and retain his assistant coaching duties, the team said.

* Bucks: Voshon Lenard, who returned to Minnesota for his senior season after Milwaukee selected him in the second round of the 1994 draft, signed a one-year contract.

* Timberwolves: Kevin Garnett, the first player in more than 20 years to be drafted out of high school by an NBA team, agreed to terms with Minnesota.

* Sixers: Jerry Stackhouse, the prize rookie from North Carolina, chosen third overall in the NBA draft, incurred a hairline fracture on his left hand that will keep him out of action for the next two to three weeks.&lt;